Black British Novelist and Playwright Valerie
Mason-John, a.k.a."Queenie," to Perform April 4 at SUNY Geneseo

GENESEO,
N.Y.—Black British novelist, playwright and non fiction writer Valerie
Mason-John, who also goes by the moniker "Queenie," will perform at 3:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 4, in Sturges Auditorium at the State University of New York
at Geneseo.

Mason-John
has worked as a writer throughout her professional career. She began as an
international correspondent, covering stories such as the Australian Aboriginal
land rights issue to interviews with Sinn Fein prisoners in Mugulberry Prison
in Northern Ireland.

Retrained in
mime and physical theater, Mason-John began writing and performing for the
stage. Achieving several box office successes, she performed throughout London
including the renowned Young Vic Theater. She served as the artistic director
of the London Mardi Gras Arts Festival; was the last promoter of the biggest
women-only nightclub at the notorious Fridge in London; and took over the
Lesbian Alternative Beauty Contest, making it a national event in 1999. Also a
performance poet and TV personality, Mason-John also won a Windrush Achievement
Award for her contribution to the black British community and was named by the
national media as one of Britain's Black Gay Icons and most adventurous
performers.

Mason-John's
debut novel, "Borrowed Body," won first prize in the Mind Book of the Year
2006. The prestigious award, presented by the mental health charity Mind and
now in its 25th year, celebrates writing that furthers public understanding of
mental or emotional distress in all its forms.

Geneseo students
in Associate Professor of English Maria Lima's "Black British Literature and
Culture" class are reading Mason-John's novel and will meet with the writer
while she visits the campus.

In
the 2005 "Borrowed Body," Mason-John blends magic realism with fictional
memoir. The novel's protagonist, Pauline, is a young black girl growing up in
white foster homes and orphanages who is later reclaimed by her African-born
mother, who wants to reinvent her into a dutiful African child. In the
book, Pauline is faced with some of the painful memories of African slavery,
hundreds of years ago. Past lives, spirits and imaginary friends are all woven
into this feisty account.

Mason-John
lived with a white foster mother until she was 4, when she was placed in
Bernardo's Orphanage, which is featured in the novel. Raised by a Polish
housefather and an English housemother, at 14 she began living on the streets.
Her book is frightfully realistic about growing up "in care" and being a
"colored" child in the system. The issues it touches on will speak to anyone
who remembers their own childhood and the pains of growing up.

She
also is the author of "Detox Your Heart," a self-help book exploring ways of
working with anger, fear and hatred; and "Brown Girl in the Ring," a collection
of prose, poetry, monologues and a play which illustrates some of her
experiences from the mid-'80s to the early '90s living in London. Mason-John
also is author of "Making Black Waves" and "Talking Black," the first two books
to document the lives of African/Caribbean/Asian lesbian culture in Britain.

A
Buddhist meditator, Mason-John also is a trainer in anger management, conflict
resolution and self-development. She was also part of a team of trainers who
designed an anger management program for schools in England.

Mason-John's
performance is sponsored by the Geneseo Pride Alliance and is partly funded by
Poets & Writers [New York State Council on the Arts] and the college's
English department.

The Geneseo
Pride Alliance will offer and participate in other events throughout April as
part of a nationwide celebration of gay pride on college and university
campuses. On April 13, the organization will hold a Drag Ball featuring
performances by three drag queens and a drag king from 9 p.m. to midnight in
the Knight Spot. Advance tickets are $5 and go on sale April 9 in the MacVittie
College Union. Tickets at the door will be $6.

On April 18, the
11th Annual National Day of Silence, Pride Alliance members will
attend the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley's ceremony at its youth center in
Rochester.